“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Friday, 15 June 2018

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 15/06/2018: Big Shaq, Slaves, Death Grips and more…

Big
Shaq removes his coat and Slaves are soundly oddly upbeat.

THE WORST:

‘Man Don’t Dance’ - Big Shaq

Big
Shaq has taken off his jacket, but now he’s refusing to dance. Next year, I’m
pretty sure he’ll be dancing and refusing to do something else. Man don’t stick
to his principles. Sequels to meme songs are generally never as good, but this
beat bangs hard and ‘I like my eggs with
yolk, scrambled ting/ but please don’t burn my toast’ is the best opening
line to a song I’ve heard all year.

‘Cut and Run’ – Slaves

Even
if this is a lot less aggressive than their past work and a lot more like
FIFA-game radio rock, I’m feeling the catchy lyrics and simple riffing. Also thanks
for the workout video, Slaves - maybe there’s still time to work on my beach body.

‘Ha ha ha’ – Death Grips

The
first minute of dissonant chaos was a bit much for me and even then I was too distracted
by the disgusting artwork to enjoy the rest of the song, but the track has
grown on me since – there’s so much crazy shit going on in it that I can’t help
but feel a little awed by it. The track is set to feature on Death Grips’ upcoming album The Year of The Snitch – I’m
hoping there are more innovative tracks like this one on it.

‘Heterosapien’ – Shatner

Described
in the band’s own words, ‘Heterosapien’ is about how the 'human race is crashing the car whilst texting’. Musically, it’s an incredible mix of rock
flavours – Shatner have been described as a mix of The Clash and the B-52s
which is about as close as I can come to describing their sonic cocktail.

‘Blurs’ – Echo Vista

Echo
Vista’s sound is equally hard to pin down. The layers of fluttering woodwind
and gloopy synths feel like they ought to belong to two different worlds, but
here they co-exist together. The vocals meanwhile weave in and out of the
track. It’s a fun and unpredictable ride.

THE WORST:

‘Midsummer Madness’ – 88 Rising

When
I saw the signees of 88 Rising had come together for a collaboration I got
excited, but this is really quite underwhelming. It feels like a commercial
cash grab that doesn’t let any of the artists’ personalities shine. Joji sounds
like Charlie Puth.